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Getting Around

Save on Eurostar tickets

Mary Halling

29 Dec 2009

Italy

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I noticed this in Italy especially -- when traveling long distances via train, you will usually connect through a city or two. DO NOT buy the tickets (a) online, or (b) all the way through. Instead, book as you go -- it will be MUCH more cost-effective this way.

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Culture Shock

A stranger in your own life

Chelsea Young

27 Aug 2009

Italy

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I studied abroad in Florence for four months and as it was my first time abroad, everything was new and exciting, but also, at times, a little intimidating. For the first time, I felt like a stranger in my own life -- in a completely new place with no one I knew. To adjust I found it best to establish some sort of routine in my new home. Every Tuesday, I went to the open-air market to shop and then walked over to a favorite sandwich shop nearby. Becoming familiar with certain places or areas allowed me to feel more like a local and to make Florence my own. When I left at the end of my program, I felt that I was leaving my home, Florence, and my family -- the people who had experienced it with me.

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Must Do

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is best visited at 3 a.m.

Michael Amico

22 Oct 2009

Italy

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If you want to see the tower, go at 3 a.m. like I did. My traveling companions and I had a layover on a train back from Florence so we walked to the tower. It's completely deserted and everything you want to see is lit up nicely. The one security guard there even told us where to stand to get the best cliché leaning tower photo -- so it looks like we're holding it up.

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Etiquette

Don't share a plate

Michelle Saltis

12 Jan 2010

Italy

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Sharing a meal with a friend is apparently unacceptable in Italy. When out with friends, we shared a plate of pasta because we were not very hungry. The waiters pointed and laughed at us while we ate, and talked among themselves.

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Food

3 common misconceptions about Italian food

Michelle Saltis

12 Jan 2010

Italy

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There are definitely some discrepancies between what North Americans think of as Italian food and what is actually served in Italy. Here are a few that I have found: 1. Fettucini Alfredo does not exist in Italy 2. A mixed-green salad consisted of warm spinach and a lemon 3. Spaghetti and meatballs are eaten separately

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Health

How toilet seat covers are going to pay my way through college.

Alessandra Roqueta

05 Mar 2009

Italy

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In Italy, for hygienic purposes, you must wear plastic gloves when touching fruit at the grocery store. There's also a change bowl to avoid hand-to-hand contact when exchanging cash. In an Italian bathroom my mom happened upon "the million dollar idea" that was going to put me through college: to become the Italian supplier of paper toilet seat covers (move over Kimberly Clark). Now living in Italy I find it strangely ironic that people don’t want strangers' hands touching their fruit, yet they are more than willing to share a cheek-to-cheek bathroom session with them. Then again, some bathrooms have solved the problem by eliminating the toilet seat altogether, and with that I have learned the secret to Italian women's built thighs: squats.

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Being an American

Italian Military Boys

Madeline Jhawar

27 Mar 2009

Italy

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A friend and I were on a train from Milan to Vicenza, chatting to each other in English, even though we both spoke fluent Italian. It was the end of our AFS exchange year, and we were aware that the car was full of Italian military boys who wanted to get to know American girls. We listened as they hatched a plan to talk to us, and -- hearing all of the plotting -- decided we weren't interested. When one of them came to talk to us, and asked in simple Italian where we were from, we answered in a complete, grammatically correct, Italian sentence. It was enough to send him back to his seat and face smirks from his friends. Lessons: 1) learn the language, 2) learn the language, and 3) learn the language!

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